Aaron Hernandez's alleged accomplice pleads not guilty

Aaron Hernandez’s alleged accomplice, Ernest Wallace, pleaded not guilty Thursday to one count of being an accessory to murder after the fact. Wallace, 44, will return to Fall River Superior Court for a bail hearing Sept. 26. During Wallace’s arraignment Thursday, his defense lawyer, David ...

Aaron Hernandez’s alleged accomplice, Ernest Wallace, pleaded not guilty Thursday to one count of being an accessory to murder after the fact.

Wallace, 44, will return to Fall River Superior Court for a bail hearing Sept. 26. During Wallace’s arraignment Thursday, his defense lawyer, David Meier, and Assistant District Attorney Patrick Bomberg agreed for the bail arguments to be postponed a week so the defense team could review the grand jury minutes that resulted in Wallace’s indictment last month.

Meanwhile, Wallace will continue to be held at the Plymouth County House of Correction on the $500,000 cash bail a judge set at his original arraignment in Attleboro District Court. Meier declined to speak to reporters after the hearing.

Bristol Count District Attorney Samuel Sutter said additional information will be revealed during next week’s bail arguments.

“We’re going to have to be very forthcoming about the evidence that we have against Mr. Wallace at this point,” Sutter said, adding that his office will ask that Wallace continue to be held on $500,000 cash bail.

Sutter added that the grand jury minutes have already been given to Wallace’s lawyers. He declined to comment further on the case besides saying that the investigation remains “active and ongoing.”

Prosecutors have said Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, 27, of Bristol, Conn., accompanied Aaron Hernandez, 23, the former Patriots All-Pro tight end, in taking Odin Lloyd, 27, to a desolate industrial park in North Attleborough during the early-morning hours of June 17.

Lloyd, of Dorchester, was found dead, shot five times with a .45-caliber handgun, the next morning in the industrial park. Prosecutors said Hernandez, who was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, orchestrated the killing because he was upset at Lloyd for a disagreement they had at a Boston nightclub a few days earlier.

Hernandez pleaded not guilty to murder and firearm felonies at his Sept. 6 arraignment in Fall River Superior Court. He is scheduled to return to court Oct. 9.

Ortiz, who court documents indicate has been cooperating with investigators, has not been indicted. He was ordered held without bail after being arraigned in late June on a charge of carrying a firearm without a license. His case is still pending in Attleboro District Court.

Wallace’s bail hearing in Fall River Superior Court is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sept. 26.